Pre-Code Films

Perhaps one of the most interesting periods in film history is the Pre-code era. Pre-code Hollywood is the time period after the introduction of sound in the 1920, and before implementation the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934. This code was the set of moral censorship guidelines in the film industry, however movies that were made between 1920 and 1934 were full of cursing, violence, sex and prostitution, the use of drugs, and homosexuality. Theses movies also often dealt with strong female main characters, and feminine matters.

 This era also birthed gangster films, starting with Underworld. Underworld is the first gangster movie and aired in 1927. “The film established the fundamental elements of the gangster movie: a hoodlum hero; ominous, night-shrouded city streets; floozies; and a blazing finale in which the cops cut down the protagonist."  Ben Hect, the writer of the film, even won an academy award in 1929 at their first ever award ceremony for his work.

This era in film history also resulted in one of my favorite child hood movies, the 1931 Frankenstein. This movie had many controversial scenes probably the most famous is when the monster accidentally drowns the little girl. After the Motion picture production code was used, the second half of that scene was cut in New York Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The iconic line “Its Alive!” was originally written as, “It’s alive It's alive! In the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!" however that was cut as well. Kanas only allowed an edited version of the film to be released; they originally wanted to cut 32 scenes, which would have cut the films running time in half.   

Universal Monster Films

The horror films produced by Universal in the 1930s left an indelible mark on the history of popular American film. Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy and others remain in the cultural zeitgeist to this day and are chiefly responsible for helping Universal become one of the largest movie studios in the world.

Although monster films existed before the 1930s (with Murneau's Nosferatu being released in 1922), the genre made great strides in popularity following 1931's Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi in his most famous role. Universal followed that film up with Frankenstein, an adaptation of a story that had been around since the 1820s. Both films achieved great success at the box office, and their characters became part of our culture. Lugosi, The Wolf Man star Lon Chaney, and Frankenstein star Boris Karloff became some of the most famous actors of the day.

Universal's success with monster movies over the next couple of decades positioned the studio as one of the titans of the industry. Although the studio had been around since the days of silent film, and in fact came to prominence with several pre-Jazz Singer hits, it was the horror hits of the early 1930's that allowed the studio to branch out into other genres. The studio's success with horror continued with Creature from the Black Lagoon, whose titular monster is considered one of the class Universal Monsters.

Universal horror films changed the path of popular American film greatly, as they set the standard for all horror films to follow. Several classic films of later decades have sprung out of the tradition set by these films; one of the funniest movies of all time, Young Frankenstein, is entirely built around the tropes of the Universal films.

Two years ago, the AV Club published a guide to Universal monster films, which comes in handy every Halloween: http://www.avclub.com/article/a-guide-to-the-universal-studios-monster-movies-19-87883.

Frankenweenie

Recently I saw the new Tim Burton movie Frankenweenie and before I even start to say anything I want to say this; I did enjoy the movie. I thought that it was a delightful homage to the old monster movies of the 30's and 40's and I loved the feel of the movie. However, I couldn't help but feel a little let down when I left the theatre.

Now I'm a huge Tim Burton fan. Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow are among my favorite movies of all time and it was nice seeing him return to form for Frankenweenie, especially after Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. It was nice seeing a more gothic movie more in the vain of Corpse Bride which is also a movie that I really enjoyed.

The movie is about Victor Frankenstein. A young kid who spends all of his time in his attic making various inventions and gadgets all in the name of science. His only real friend is his dog Sparky. One day however Sparky gets hit by a car and he dies. Victor becomes absolutely devastated and decides that there must be some sort of way to bring his dog back. So after a very Frankenstein like experiment sequence, Sparky is back from the dead and from here the movie really begins.

Now like I said before, I did enjoy this movie but I did have some problems with it. The first being that I really don't feel like I connected to any of the characters. With the exception of Victor none of the other characters really stood out for me. It seemed like their only purpose in the movie was to do something dumb that progressed the story further, that was about it. Another problem I had was that I felt like it was a little too preachy in certain parts. The movie is about science and how people view it. The town is represented as a very sheltered town that is absolutely terrified of science and all of the questions science raises. Typically I wouldn't mind something like this but there is one scene involving the town at a PTA meeting and they demand that the new science teacher explain his teaching methods. The following speech seemed a little too preachy for me and I felt that Burton was definitely hinting at a lot of other things with it. My final issue with the movie was that I honestly felt like it wasn't Tim Burton enough. Burton is the kind of guy who really understands character. He loves to do movies that involve a crazy or eccentric type of character because he understands them and portrays them so well. In this movie however I felt like he didn't do that enough. I think that with the character of Victor he did a pretty good job but like I mentioned before, the other characters just seemed too boring for my taste and because I know it's a Burton movie, I know that he could have done a better job with it.

Ok, so I'm sure that seemed like a decent amount of criticism but I would still highly recommend this movie. The atmosphere is great, the black and white adds so much to the movie and I mean, it's very enjoyable. There are funny moments, quirky ones and touching ones. Even though I think that all the other characters were forgettable, Victor isn't. This is the one character that Burton really put a lot of heart into and it shows. When it comes down to it, this movie is really about a boy and his dog. It brings you back to a time when that's really all you needed in your life to be completely happy and the movie leaves you feeling like that again.

So when everything is all said and done, I would say go see the movie. It's a wonderful homage to all of the old monster movies of the 30's and 40's, it's enjoyable and it's a lot of fun. Also just in case anyone hasn't seen anything for this movie, here's the trailer. Enjoy.

Universal's Classic Monster Movies

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the atmosphere, the scares, but most importantly I love the movies. I love scary movies; the only sad part is, there really aren't that many that I actually enjoy around this time anymore. All the movies that come out nowadays are really just the same movie over and over again, that all have the same cheap scares again and again. I can't remember the last time I saw a horror movie that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. However, if there are a bunch that I will always love, it's Universal's classic monster movies.

I'm talking about Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Wolf Man (1941) and many others. Now these movies are by no means scary, at least in this day and age. I would imagine that back when they were released they were absolutely terrifying, but even so that doesn't take away the magic and charm of these movies. Since there are quite a few of these films I'm only gonna talk about a couple of them, but this shouldn't stop you from watching all of them, especially because a majority of them are on Netflix.

I'm of course going to start out with Dracula, the one that started it all. Now although there were Universal monster movies before this such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925), I would consider Dracula to be the most influential and the first of the monster movies to still have such a big impact in today's society.

Bela Lugosi stars as Count Dracula, giving an iconic performance that actors today still try to replicate. He was the one that gave us the hypnotizing Dracula stare, the hungarian accent, the subtleties of his movements and so forth. He was the first to make Dracula not only terrifying but also mysterious and enchanting. The technical aspects of the movie are also great even by todays standards. The atmosphere and lighting are still fantastic and it really helps pull you into the movie. Dracula is a movie that is still imitated to this day and it holds up extremely well still. Any movie fan should check it out.

The next movie I'm going to talk about is none other than Frankenstein. Having very little to do with Mary Shelly's novel, this is a movie that focuses more on the creature in a sympathetic sense. It's a movie that's about crossing the line between life and death but also one that asks what happens when that line does get crossed. The Monster (who is played by Boris Karloff in what is arguably his most iconic performance) is a creature just trying to belong but not knowing how. He can't speak or communicate in any normal way so to everyone around him he seems like a dangerous beast. The whole movie leads up to what might be one of the most iconic climax's of all time and it's one that shouldn't be missed. I should also point out that the make-up in this movie is top notch and that alone is worth seeing.

The final movie I'm going to talk about is The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr. His father Lon Chaney Sr was known as "The Man With 1,000 Faces", starring in such movies as the above mentioned Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame, so his son had some shoes to fill. Luckily for him though, he filled them pretty well, giving us another famous monster; the werewolf. Although not as iconic as Dracula or the Monster he's still worth mentioning. Bela Lugosi gave us all of Dracula's mannerisms that are still used today and Boris Karloff gave us the famous "monster walk" but Lon Chaney Jr gave us a normal guy trapped in a very unfortunate situation. While the other two monsters started off that way, Chaney starts off as a normal guy who one night gets bitten by a werewolf, from that point forward, his life is never the same. It's the story of a man trying to cope with this terrible thing that has happened to him and he does a great job doing it. Also the technical features should be noted about this movie. The atmosphere and lighting effects are absolutely fantastic. The woods are all foggy and mysterious, the night time scenes are perfectly shadowed so it gives us an uncomfortable feeling at all times and of course the make-up is fantastic. All of this together makes this movie an absolute treat to watch.

I would highly recommend watching these movies along with all the others in the collection. Such as The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Invisible Man (1935) and Phantom of the Opera (1943). I would also highly recommend Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein because it is a wonderful homage to all of these movies and it's a very funny movie as well.